Earth Bound (32 page)

Dreams and fantasies were far different than reality. This time, she had everything to lose. Gavriil was worth fighting for. He fought for her with every breath he took. Could she do less for him? He wanted her. He'd asked her time and again to trust him, to give herself to him.

She whispered his name as she brought both hands down over her thighs and back up to the junction at her legs. Love for him was there. She felt it rising inside her like a towering wave. Her body ached for him. She started to touch herself and then pulled her hand away as if she'd been burned.

Memories surfaced, ugly horrible fragments that wouldn't leave her alone. The pain. The humiliation. The disgust and shame. She sank slowly back into the water and drew up her knees, making herself as small as possible. Tears tracked down her face and dropped into the steaming water. She covered her face with her hands, not knowing what to do.

She felt Gavriil close. Moving in her mind. A caress. Gentle. Intimate. Her stomach muscles tightened. Fear lived and breathed in her. Fear, not so much for her but for him. He wouldn't leave her or give up on her. She had to be just as brave. She just needed to find the courage.

“
Solnyshko moya
, enough. Stop hiding in there and come to bed.” Gavriil's voice was low and brushed over her
skin the same way he had the walls of her mind. Intimate and gentle—hard to resist.

She bit her lip. She was hiding. From him. From herself. From what she was and what she wasn't. He would know the moment he saw her body that she was in a fierce state of arousal. She couldn't possibly spend another night beside him, skin to skin, his heat spreading through her until she was afraid she would burn right there in the bed.

“I'm too tired to get out. I think I'll sleep right here.” It was a lie. Her voice betrayed her. She didn't talk in that soft, silky voice meant for satin sheets and candlelight. An invitation. Not only did her face turn red, but so did her entire body.

“You're going to turn into a prune.”

She heard him move and closed her eyes like a child afraid to face her greatest fear. Silence. Long, heartbreaking silence. Lexi lifted her lashes, and there he was, his wide shoulders filling the doorway, his dark blue eyes like the midnight sky, drifting over her possessively.

She shivered, her nipples tightening. He was beautiful draped so casually there. All man. His muscles defined. Strong and confident. Everything she wasn't. He didn't have to touch her to make her want him. He just looked at her with his blue eyes and she was lost, caught in his spell.

She looked at him helplessly. Wanting had gone to craving. To needing.

“Baby, just come to me. Don't do this to yourself.” His soft whisper ran like fingers over her body to tease her thighs.

She took a deep breath. Gavriil wore his skin comfortably. The towel dipped low around his hips and she knew he wore it only as a condition to her modesty, not his. He was a man who preferred not to show emotion, but was completely casual naked.

She moistened her lips, determined to claim him. Determined to rise like the phoenix from the ashes of her past. Gripping the edges of the tub until her knuckles turned
white, she slowly stood, forcing herself to stand naked in front of him. The light was low, but still, it illuminated her wet skin, playing over her body with the drifting steam.

She froze, her breath refusing to leave her lungs. She couldn't let go of the death grip she had on the tub. “Gavriil.” She whispered his name, willing him to understand what she was trying to do—come to him in her own skin.

Gavriil nearly groaned aloud. She was killing him with her need to please him. She didn't understand he would wait a lifetime for her. She sounded sexy. Scared. Innocent. There was a note of raw courage in her voice that whispered over his skin and reached deep inside of him to turn him inside out.

He caught up a towel, and plunged his hand into the warm water to pull out the plug. She trembled, her gaze clinging to his. He wrapped his arm around her waist and lifted her right out of the bathtub.

She leaned away from him. “Are you crazy? You'll be soaked. We'll have water all over the floor.” Her hands went to her long, thick hair, wringing it out hastily over the tub so that water streamed from the silky mass.

He set her feet on the bathmat and wrapped her in a towel. “I don't have a stitch on other than a towel. A little water never hurt anyone.” He began drying her, using a slow, deliberately sensual massage, paying attention to every part of her body.

Lexi stood frozen, one hand on his shoulder. He could feel the tremors running through her body as she stood very still for him. His heart swelled. He felt almost overwhelmed with love for her. She was so frightened, yet she refused to give in.

In spite of the towel moving over her, little shivers shook her body. He took his time, warming her gently. The towel rasped gently over her nipples and teased at the undersides of her breasts. As he dipped the towel a little lower to wipe the water from her rib cage, he bent his head to her breasts,
a slow, seductive descent, waiting for her to protest. When she didn't, he licked at her nipples, breathed warm air over them and drew one breast into the heat of his mouth.

She made a little sound, a breathy, soft moan, and her arm came up to cradle his head. He forgot for a moment he was drying her off, losing himself in the sheer pleasure of her soft body. His tongue flicked her nipple, his teeth tugged gently. He suckled first one, then the other.

You're so brave, Lexi. I'm proud of you.
He teased at her nipple, drawing her deep in the heat of his mouth.

I don't know what I'm doing.

You're showing me you love me.
He couldn't help kissing his way over the curve of her breasts back up to her mouth. Her lips trembled just like the rest of her, but were soft and warm and welcoming under his.

She had no idea just what it meant to him that she had gathered her courage and stood up stark naked in the bathtub, offering herself to him. As seductions went, most wouldn't consider it sexy. He found her the sexiest woman alive.

She was fragile and innocent in spite of the years she'd spent as a prisoner to a depraved madman. He felt privileged and humbled that she chose him and had worked hard to conquer her fears in order to come to him.

He could spend a lifetime kissing her. She gave herself without reservation to him when he kissed her. He left her mouth reluctantly to kiss his way back down to the tips of her breasts.

You're so beautiful. I love your body. You're warm and so damned soft, Lexi. When I touch you, I feel as if I've found my way home.

Her arms crept around his head again, holding him to her. Her long lashes fluttered and veiled the expression in her eyes, but it didn't matter. He felt her moving in his mind.

You are home here with me.

Her voice was tentative. Shy. Loving. His heart contracted. She could bring him to his knees so easily, and she didn't even know the power she wielded.

You are my home. You. Not a place. Just you.
When he called her his sun, or his angel, he meant it.

He kissed his way down her ribs, using the towel to catch a few drops of water while his hands shaped her and his mouth worshiped her.

Someday I'm going to buy you a little adornment I can play with.
His tongue dipped into her belly button.

Her breath caught in her throat.
I always wanted one so I could get a chain, a really fine gold link chain with little bells on it.

Instantly he visualized her stark naked, dancing in front of the firelight with only that chain around her hips. His blood thundered in his ears. He crouched low and brought the towel up her ankle to her calf, leaning in to sip at the water on the insides of her thighs. His hair brushed against her legs, and his fingers bit into her hips.

Both of her hands caught at his shoulders for support. She went very still but she didn't protest. He ran his tongue up higher, chasing the drops up toward the vee at the junction of her legs. Her legs quivered and she made a small strangled sound in the back of her throat.

“I think I need dessert tonight,
laskovaya moya
,” he murmured. “Do you have any objections?” Before she could answer, he tossed the towel aside and lifted her, carrying her to the bed.

“I don't know what that means,” she answered. Her eyes met his and then slid away shyly. “Not exactly.”

“It means I want to eat you like candy.” He practically growled the explanation. “I could devour you whole and never get enough.” He bent his head to hers, brushing coaxing kisses over her trembling lips. “Try this for me. If you don't like it, we'll stop.”

He wanted to devour her for real. Touching her soft skin drove him nearly out of his mind. A jackhammer seemed to penetrate his skull and his blood pounded hard in his veins in sheer desperation—but she deserved so much more.

Lexi stared up at Gavriil's face, totally mesmerized. His
features were dark with sensuality, his hooded eyes the color of midnight, filled with so much desire, he took her breath away. She was terrified, truly terrified, but there was no resisting him and the sudden need to learn more about the absolute pleasure she knew he could give her.

She swallowed hard as he tossed the sheet, her only protection, out of his way. His towel came next and she couldn't help glancing down at his manhood. He was intimidating, much thicker and longer than she remembered. Up close he was terrifying, yet his hands slid over her body with such tenderness he disarmed her.

His body moved over hers, covering her like a blanket. Caine had made her face away from him. He hadn't wanted to look at her as he rutted. Gavriil stared into her eyes, and held her gently. His mouth came down on hers and she tasted passion. Aggression. Love.

Tears burned behind her eyes. She couldn't believe a man could act so loving toward her. No one had ever made her feel loved and beautiful and wanted. She gave herself up to his kisses, absorbing the way his body felt against hers. Hard. All muscle. Hot. All over.

She found she liked the difference in the way his body felt against hers. He made her feel feminine and protected. His kisses brought an ache to her breasts and tension between her legs. She held on to her love for him as he kissed his way down to her breasts. Her skin burned, flames licking at her. She felt damp heat gathering between her legs.

Relax,
solnyshko moya
, trust me to take good care of you.

She did trust him, but it was difficult to relax when her body felt heavy and unfamiliar and so . . . desperate. He was setting up a deep craving in her and there was a part of her that feared where it would take her.

I can't breathe.
She had no idea a woman could feel this way. Needy. Hungry. Unable to control her body. She tried to stop moving, but her hips couldn't be still and she feared
they were taking on a life of their own, desperate for his body. She felt empty and needed him to fill her.

I can't breathe without you.

He whispered the admission into her mind. His voice felt like velvet moving over her hot skin, brushing caresses right along with his tongue and hands. His mouth closed over her breast and just like his kiss, his mouth was more aggressive. He suckled strongly and used the edge of his teeth and the flat of his tongue to drive her up fast.

She heard her own moan, and the sound startled her. It was all happening too fast—her body not her own, but his. He seemed to know exactly where to touch her, to kiss her, even those small stinging bites fed her growing hunger. She really couldn't catch her breath, but she didn't want him to stop.

Her breasts were sensitive and responsive to each tug and pull of his fingers. Jagged lightning sizzled through her bloodstream, connecting her breasts to her feminine core. Her pulse thundered, roaring in her ears. The tension between her legs built unrelentingly.

Lexi buried her fingers in his hair, trying to find a way to steady herself when she felt as if any moment she might fly apart. She really couldn't quite catch her breath.

Gavriil?
She needed reassurance. Needed to know that she'd survive. She knew better than to think she'd ever be the same.
Is so much pleasure a sin?
How could it not be?

If so, I'll take sinning over fire and brimstone any day.
He pressed a kiss in the valley between her breasts and lifted his head, his eyes meeting hers.

Her heart slammed in her chest. His eyes were dark and sensual, hooded with fierce desire so intense she felt her feminine sheath contract in response.

“I'm loving you, Lexi. My way. The way a man is meant to love his woman. I'm worshiping your body, expressing my feelings for you in the way I'm best at. This is love my way. I can't imagine that we're not meant to love each other.”

Before she could reply he bent his head to her body again. His body pinned hers down. The strength in his hands was enormous. He seemed on the edge of his control, his features carved with harsh sensuality. She should have been afraid of him, but she was more afraid of herself. Of the ever-building need growing so strong inside of her.

Gavriil kissed his way to her belly button, dipping his tongue there, while one hand slid between her legs to feel her slick heat. She cried out, the sound shocking her. Just that simple touch had her squirming, her hips bucking. She was embarrassed that she couldn't hold still, her body writhing with need and a hunger she'd never known before.

“Gavriil?” She caught at his hair, the only thing left to her.

He didn't lift his head but stroked his tongue down her belly.
Just relax for me, Lexi. I'll take care of you. Breathe. You'll like this, I promise.

His voice soothed her as it always did. Soft. Low. So calm, as if nothing ever got to him.
I can't stop moving
, she confessed. She was grateful for the ability to talk to him telepathically. She wasn't certain she could have made the admission aloud.